Wilson l



(No Model.)

' W. L. POTTER.

BELT PASTENER.

Patented Apr. 24, 1888.

INVENTUR m,

WITNESSES:

UNITED STATES PATEN'r tries,

WILSON L. POTTER, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE J EI'VELL BELTING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

BELT-FASTENER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 381,640, dated April. 24, 1838.

Application filed August 10, 1887. Serial No. 246,642. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that l, WILSON L. POTTER, of Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Belt-Hooks, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, whereby any one skilled in the art can make and use the same.

My invention relates to the class of belt- 1o hooks that are composed of asingle plate with the teeth cast upon said plate and serving as means for fastening the hook to the ends of the belt; and the object of my invention is to provide a belt-hook of this class that may be cast lighter than prior hooks and with less loss by chilling and breakage.

To this end my invention consists in a belthook made of metal cast to shape with the peculiar ribs lengthwise of its back and thickest at their centers, and the lines of teeth along the under side ot" the plate at the ends,as more particularly hereinafter described, and pointed 'out in the claim.

Referring to the drawings, Figure l is aplan view of the top or back of one of my improved belt-hooks. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the under side of the same book, showing the end of a belt attached to one side of the hook. Fig. 3 is adetail view in cross-section through the plate, showing the teeth in view beyond the plane of section.

In the accompanying drawings, the letter a denotes a belt-hook as a whole, that is prefer ably made of metal, as iron cast to shape,with

the teeth Z) integral thereon, the whole afterward being made malleable, as is customary in the art. The teeth Z) are arranged on the under side of the plate and are located in lines near the opposite ends, a, of the plate,

1,0 There may be one or more lines of such teeth; but I prefer that each tooth shall be oblong in cross-section that is, two of the sides shall be flat and much longer than are the sides that form the edges of the teeth-and that these teeth so shaped shall be arranged in pairs, so that the distance measured-between the edges of the teeth near the end of the plate, as at 1 in Fig. 2, shall be less than the distance be tween the inner edges of the teeth, as at 2 in 5 the same figure. Each tooth is set with its flat side crosswise to the length of the plate or line of direction in which the strain comes when abelt fastened by such a belt-hook is running, There may be another row of teeth set nearer the middle of the hook and preferably in a line parallel to the end of the plate, and such an additional line of teeth has the peculiarities of shape of teeth and relative po sition as above described.

In order that a small quantity of metal may be used, and in order to overcome the objee tion present in old belt-hooks, I make the plate of the belt-hook comparatively thin and cast upon the back the lengthwise ribs 0, to strengthen the plate against a breaking strain that will in the use of such hook come crosswise of such ribs.

A thin plate is desirable for the further reason that in casting the hook of malleable iron the metal chills at the base of the teeth when the plate is cast, and in such case are quickly broken under the hard usage in clinching the teeth and under the strain when in use in fastening a belt. The ribs are peculiarly formed to avoid thickening the plate, as 7 5 they are thickest at the center of the plate, where the greatest strain will come, and are tapered out and join the plate'surl'ace back of the edge of the plate, leaving it thin where the teeth are placed.

I am aware that it is not new to provide a belt-hook with teeth disposed at an angle crosswise of the length of the hook, and also that it is not new to providea belt-hook with a transverse rib on the under side, and such de- 8 vices I do not broadly claim.

I claim as my improvements- The improved belt-hook consisting of a base plate made of metal cast to shape with strength ening-ribs extending lengthwise of the plate 0 on its back, the said ribs being thickest at the center and tapering to their ends near the opposite edges of the plate, and with lines ofprojecting teeth on the under surface of the plate at its opposite ends, all substantially as de- 5 scribed.

WILSON L. POTTER, Ni tnesses:

CHAS. L. Bmsnnrr, A. B. JENKINSl 

